


Burning building

by Callmyname



Series: Burning [1]
Category: Tenet (2020)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Fire, Graphic Description, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Trigger Warnings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 06:35:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 1,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29327895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Callmyname/pseuds/Callmyname
Summary: Finding Neil.Descriptions of nightmares, fire service,  trauma of victims and rescuers alike.Implied sex. . Trigger warnings.
Relationships: Neil/The Protagonist (Tenet)
Series: Burning [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2160255
Kudos: 2





	1. Obituary

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger warnings - escaping fire. Implied witnessing death. 
> 
> Any real life experiences of fires, especially flats, inadequate cladding etc. Started writing this before reading news, no idea how graphic I am going to get.
> 
> Major plot details skimmed.

"Whats happened, happened" was the mantra that said things could not be changed. 

Nevertheless, when I had come across a familiar face  
\- staring back at me from the obituaries -  
my heart jumped wildly. I took a deep breathe, gripping the table hard , and looked carefully. Yes, it was him alright. Graduation gown and youthful, but clearly Neil. The usual words blurred on front of me - a brilliant mind, great loss to us all, life cut short, terrible tragedy. Suddenly a phrase leapt out:-  
 _body not yet identified._

Fay's words about running back into a burning building? I had wondered and worried at them over the years, like an old bone. It had been a slightly odd turn of phrase, and had stuck in my head. I guess I had known it would. Some formative moments do, after all.

Then the day came for me to go retrograde. The less said about that particular journey the better. It was going to be far, far longer than normal. My emotions were a mess - I was both mourning him, and hoping that I would see him at the end, slung over my shoulder and alive.

God I missed him. I had never really got over his death, and it had made me a driven man trying to fix it all. Because - his promise that we would see each othe again? Not yet. I suppose I had to trust that things would work out. But then again, what if I lived now in a parallel universe where I would not - could not - meet him again? That he really had died in that fire? 


	2. Training

I had been training with the fire service for a few weeks. Now the usual nightmare were even more detailed - and worse. Neil screaming in pain and still insisting he needed to go back in. An endless succession of horrific deaths, none of which I managed to save him from. 

The images were bad enough, but the worst part was the smell that lingered on me. Then played out in glorious surround sound dreams of him burning to death. Of him dying slowly in my arms. My training had involved going into a number of equally devastating fires, and seeing how awful it truly was. I had always regarded myself as a brave individual - no stupid false modesty just having seen myself not panic under intense fire (hah!) Of bullets, rockets and explosion.

This was rattling me. There was something particularly challenging running into a building as it collapses around you. But far harder was the aftermath. Trying to find a way to rescue the child that the mother had told you was trapped in the building. During the save was not so bad as training and self-discipline kicked in, but afterwards - so hard. Watching a child who is rescued only to have to say his goodbyes to a mother shortly before she had died from her injuries. Or sometimes not, having then witnessed her as she plummeted to her death. Knowing that there were people who had been ringing phones, begging for help - or quietly making farewell calls to their loved ones. 

Even if I pull this off, and rescue Neil? This job has been traumatic. My new boss tells me I am a perfect fireman, with my strength and stamina. That I have immense emotional resilience. That my past in the army has taught me the discipline, and that I also have the intelligence to think fast on my feet to tackle problems. I guess he was right - we had saved a lot of people at the Opera siege, just because I had not succumbed to panic. even at the end when I had thrown the bomb up onto the top section, I reduced the death count a lot. As for the emotional side? I keep my own council on that. Maybe I still hope that I can use Tenet as a force for good, where wickedly uncaring property owners save money, and innocents pay the terrible price. 

I had been training with the fire service for a few weeks, but it felt far far longer and inadequate. I want us to be using inversion to save a lot more people, and as for alternate time-lines? 

The fateful day looms ever closer. I also now feel guilt over that, because saving Neil, and leaving everything else the same feels dreadfully wrong. Countless other innocent individuals to die a needless death. If only there was a way to save them all. Or at least save a lot more than just Neil. 


	3. Going in

Crash. My boot finished off the door far too easily after the first splintered door "knock" .

I could feel the heat even through my gear - the stairs was an inferno. They were on the balcony at the front, so I needed to get through that.

Woosh the fire extinguisher took some of that down. Someone had put towels around the seals into the rooms - these doors are meant to be fire doors. Yes! And they were told to sit tight. Not a chance. Now the stairwell was impossible, the elevator was gone. 

I could not see how I could do this. My nightmare was going to come true. I should have come at this inverted. 


	4. Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disaster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Absolutely too tired to write this at the moment. Hah sure I will come back and fix it later. Yup more description
> 
> Neil's POV is in Burning backwards - might merge the two?

Sizzle - I have dampened enough flames that I can briefly open the internal door. The entrance corridor is lined with wooden cupboards that are burning fiery. I move fast through the small flat, spraying fire suppressant as I go, and move fast towards the balcony door. 

I can see two figures huddled - they have all wrapped damp cloths round their faces, and buckets of water. They are low to the ground. A child, as I dreamed. One is Neil. 

“You are going to have to take the child down" he says. He shows me his hands- burnt badly. 

I nod , dig out my med kit - the fastest first aid exchange sends a jolt of feeling as our fingers meet, I touch him! Alive! There is an exchange of looks that shakes me to the core I know there is no time for this. No time at all. I hand him a spare breather. " if I don't get back in time. You will get seriously hurt but it gives you a chance. And use this" - I hand him the extinguisher." Point and press like this ”- whoosh demonstrates . He nods - "used them in the labs when I blow the place up. "

I take hold of the girl and lift her onto my shoulder."“We are going down the rope", I point to the garage roof " It's too far for you to jump" she flinched at the words. 

“When we get there, over to the other side where there is a metal ladder. Okay?" 

she nods. 'Got it". 

We swing into action. Down and down. She is great climbing down but refuses to let me go. I need to find an exit from this garden, which is fenced in- to make sure she is safe. Would Neil climb down on his own? I have no idea. Those hands -not good at all. Time is not on our side. I am sure I am the only one who got through. I look up - can't see Neil from here but then two figures appear climbing in a window and vanishes into the building. It's difficult to see at this angle due to the trees. Oh thank God. Someone else has got there. 

But no-one comes out . There is a huge explosion of flame, shattering glass and debris flies out. That is the gas cooker and combi boiler system blown. The building is severely compromised and the fire has taken a new hold. Toxic black smoke is pouring out. Anyone there right now- dead most likely, killed by that. I just hope against hope that it was retrograde me up there, coming out not in


	5. Arrival

They have combed through the building in vain. I read his Mum's obituary this time. .

Then, at 3am, there is a quiet knock on the door. I open it, only to see myself, inverted, and Neil, looking pale and shaken. My future self gives me an enigmatic smile and I watch him arrive /depart .   
What?? 

No explanation given. That's helpful of me. I gather Neil into my arms. He does not resist, even if it should not be on his list of expected behavior. I rain kisses down on him, as my ability to rationalise or control myself seems to have gone up in smoke. 

He actually seems pretty keen to go along with this outrageous behaviour. Next thing I know, I have a frantic young man pushing me back into the bedroom. It's pretty obvious what he wants. 


	6. Stay

We lie there afterwards. 

Neil looks at me shyly from beneath those enormous eyes of his. He looks far skinnier than I have ever seen him, and he is unshaven. He is also the most perfectly beautiful piece of artwork made animate.

I have left a mark on that perfection - well several, truth be told. That is pretty mutual though. Who would have thought such an innocent looking creature could turn up and ravage me senseless. 

My mind spirals into memory of what had just happened between us. The room reeks of sex.

"I have nowhere else to go now" , he breathed. "I'm dead."

END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is jumbled ideas notes  
> If I add to this significantly probably in another work

**Author's Note:**

> If you read fuck not fight, the end chapter(s) have a different version of the Protagonist as firefighter, which at least as written currently is not compatible,
> 
> Middle of the it's too cold to sleep "night" I thought of this version. It would be great if someone could help me sort my fics out. If I died of Covid, I don't have a beta or a co-author, and I generate crazy ideas faster than I have the patience to write them two thumbs on my broken blackberry keyboard.
> 
> But I am happy with that the way it is. If just one person likes it, hey that's one other person entertained. I don't intend to expand or elaborate on this much more - maybe a few continuity errors.
> 
> Only question I am left with is did the Mum jump. The answer is - sadly - yes. And who's child is it? Answer, a neighbours kid. 
> 
> Nope - I also want a separate story for The protagonist rescuing people (as started elsewhere), but that is fundamentally a wrap.


End file.
